The present invention relates to the field of heat removal devices. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to heat sinks employing heat shrouds.
The performance reliability and life expectancy of electronic equipment are related to the component temperature of the equipment. As the temperature of the equipment rises, there is an exponential decrease in the reliability and life expectancy of the device. Therefore, designers try to enhance the reliability and life expectancy of their components by effectively controlling the device operating temperature.
As integrated circuit (IC) chip densities increase, the amount of heat generated by the IC chip also increases. Removing the excess heat generated by the IC chip is necessary to insure proper operation. More specifically, if the excess heat is not removed, the excess heat can literally burn-up and destroy the IC chip. Technology trends are driving IC designs toward higher powered IC chips which give off more and more heat and make efficient removal of excess heat a critical design issue.
Additionally, technology trends are creating more compact computer architectures with system components being located closer to the processor. As CPU speeds continue to increase, it is becoming more important to locate ancillary devices closer to the CPU to provide faster access times. This is especially true with multi-processor systems where it is desirable to locate the processors as close as possible to each other in order to get optimal performance. This frequently leads to design problems in trying to fit cooling devices into a more densely packed architecture. More specifically, there is less room for cooling fins or other structures used to increase the surface area of cooling devices. Thus, the problem facing design engineers is to remove increasing amounts of excess heat while being allotted less space for heat dissipation devices.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a heat sink apparatus which can dissipate greater amounts of heat without increasing the size of the apparatus. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention can provide a given level of heat dissipation while reducing the amount of space required for heat dissipation devices.
In one embodiment, the present invention is a heat sink apparatus comprising a heat sink device and a heat sink shroud. The heat sink device is for transferring heat from a heat source. The heat sink shroud is thermally coupled with the heat sink device. Hence, the heat sink shroud transfers heat from the heat sink device and dissipates the heat generated by the heat source.